ARTICLES ABOUT CHASE MANHATTAN BANK BY DATE - PAGE 5

Linda Wade, 33, whose fight against leukemia drew more than 1,000 supporters, died Wednesday in her Evanston home. After she was diagnosed last May, a group of friends formed Linda's Lifeguards to run errands, baby-sit, write and pray for her. Eventually, the mailing list for the group surpassed 1,000 people. In March, the Tribune's WomaNews section ran a story about her and the support group. "Never once have I felt alone in this," she said in the article. "How could I when I have such an incredible team rallied behind me?

Cash for order: National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it has been asked to work with Chase Manhattan Bank of New York to arrange financing of $6.5 billion to $7 billion for Saudi Arabia's purchase of U.S. aircraft. "The final amount has not been agreed yet, but in general it will be between $6.5 and $7 billion paid over 10 to 12 years," said Omar Bajamal, deputy-general manager and chairman of credit policy at NCB, Saudi Arabia's largest bank. "We and Chase are arranging (the financing)

Afriend and his wife were looking for an apartment in New York recently. After being shown around various buildings, he came back to the Midwest stunned. Not by the New York prices. He was ready to accept the fact that he would have to pay exorbitant prices. No, what staggered him was this: "We looked at a number of places, and finally my wife said, `I really want a kitchen that has a garbage disposer built into the sink.' And the leasing agent looked at my wife as if she were nuts.

Bending the plastic: Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s Discover Card Services said it plans to introduce a new variable interest rate system, called "Smartrate," to be based on the prime rate and the amount of goods charged on the Discover card in the last year. At today's prime rate of 6 percent, Discover Card members who have bought more than $1,000 in items over the past year would pay interest of 15.9 percent, the company said. Card members who have purchased $500 to $999 would pay a rate of 17.9 percent.

Stephen C. Diamond, 57, former chief credit officer for American National Corp. and president of the American Jewish Committee, was a nationally recognized expert on loan quality. He died Saturday in his Glencoe home. A 33-year veteran of the banking and finance industry, Mr. Diamond received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of Southern California. Mr. Diamond began his finance career in 1959 with Heller & Co. in Chicago, a leading U.S. asset-based lender, where he headed the central commercial finance and factoring division.

Big-ticket loan: Dispelling doubts about banks` willingness to finance big-ticket buyouts, the syndication of a $650 million loan for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. looks like a rousing success. The loan, led by Chase Manhattan Bank, will help finance KKR's planned purchase of American Re-Insurance Co., a unit of Aetna Life and Casualty Co., for $1.4 billion.

Barry F. Sullivan, former chairman of First Chicago Corp., was named Monday as New York's deputy mayor for finance and economic development, a step rumored for the last two months. The 61-year-old Sullivan, a Bronx native, said he will donate his $120,000-a-year salary to charities and organizations in New York City, including the city's public and parochial school systems. When he took early retirement last year from the Chicago banking firm, Sullivan was given a three-year contract as a consultant and a $780,000 salary in addition to an office and secretary in Chicago.

Chase sells leasing assets: Chase Manhattan Bank agreed to sell $2.2 billion in assets from its leasing unit to General Electric Capital and three other companies, a move designed to strengthen Chase's balance sheet.

Telesphere Communications, Inc., a long-distance telephone company based in Oakbrook Terrace, announced an agreement in principle with its lenders and equity investors Monday to restructure its debt. The company said it hopes the plan will provide as much as $44 million over the next 12 months through a combination of equity infusions, rescheduling of debt payments and additional bank borrowings. Telesphere, which last fall borrowed $120 million to acquire National Telephone Services of Rockville, Md., last month reported a fourth-quarter loss of about $5 million.